October 18th, 2013: The Beast Within (1982)

What It’s About: While driving through rural Mississippi on their honeymoon, Eli (Ronny Cox) and Connie McCreary (Bibi Besch) miss a turn and drives off the road. Stuck in the mud, Eli goes for help. A mysterious, bestial creature kills the McCreary’s dog and rapes Connie. 17 years later, the McCreary’s son Michael (Paul Clemens) is dying from a strange, unexplained malady. The couple decide to investigate the identity and return to Naiobi, the small town near where the attack happened, where they discover the town is hiding several secrets…as is their son…

Why Watch it Today?: There’s a full moon tonight, and, while not everything in Philippe Mora’s film of Tom Holland’s script quite comes together, they do deliver a unique take on the werewolf mythos that is worth a look by fans of 80s horror movies.

Nice review-I mostly agree, but I think I got more mileage out of the random Lovecraft echos and the unexpected nature of the beastie than you did, and I actually enjoyed some of the attacks. It’s not perfect but I think it’s interesting enough to be worth a look for fans of 80s horror.

You know, I didn’t even consider the Lovecraft angle. Well, that adds a bit more respect to this oldie. And yes indeed, it’s a must-see for folks into 80’s horror flicks. I think I was a bit spoiled back then because I was seeing so many horror movies that I wasn’t too surprised at the surprises in this one (I think that soundtrack gave away some of the scares, but I’ll need to see this again and check)…

On a side note, I did recommend it to a friend a few years back and he watched it with his wife and neither of them slept much that night. So this one still has its bite!

It definitely has all the problems you mentioned; I think as a guy who watches too many horror movies sometimes the “almost wheres” and misfires that do something different (even if it doesn’t quite work) are more interesting to me than they should be.

The Lovecraft thing is mostly in some names-it never really comes together.